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Install Exopen Web Reports

Exopen Web Reports is an ASP.NET application that makes it possible to distribute and run Exopen reports through a web browser without requiring the user to have Excel installed.

System Requirements​

Software​

  • Windows Server 2012 R2 or later
  • IIS 7.5 or later
  • .NET Framework 4.5.2 or later
  • Access to the Exopen system database

Minimum Requirements​

  • 2 GHz 64-bit processor, 2 cores or vCPUs
  • 4 GB RAM
  • 50 GB available disk space

If the SQL Server instance hosting the system database is running on the same server, at least 8 GB RAM is recommended.

  • 2.4 GHz 64-bit processor, 4 cores or vCPUs
  • 8 GB RAM
  • 100 GB available disk space
  • Windows Server 2016 or later

If the SQL Server instance hosting the system database is running on the same server, at least 16 GB RAM is recommended.

1. Install IIS and Required Components​

Make sure that IIS is installed on the server and that the server meets the system requirements listed above.

Exopen Web Reports uses ASP.NET and therefore requires the relevant ASP.NET and .NET Framework components to be installed and enabled in IIS.

2. Install Exopen Web Reports​

Extract the Exopen Web Reports installation package on the server.

Suggested path:

C:\inetpub\wwwroot\EWR

The account that will be used by the IIS Application Pool must have permission to read and execute files in this directory.

3. Create an Application Pool​

Open Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.

  • Go to Application Pools
  • Click Add Application Pool
  • Enter a name, for example EWRAppPool
  • Create the Application Pool

Then open Advanced Settings for the new Application Pool.

Verify the following settings:

  • Identity should be an account with the required permissions to access the installation and any resources required by Exopen Web Reports.
  • Load User Profile should be set to True.

NetworkService can be used as the Application Pool Identity if appropriate for the server environment.

4. Create the Website in IIS​

Exopen Web Reports can either be configured as a separate website or as an application under an existing website in IIS.

Separate Website​

  • Right-click Sites
  • Select Add Website
  • Enter a name, for example EWR or ExopenWebReports
  • Select the Application Pool created in the previous step
  • Enter the path to the directory where Exopen Web Reports was installed
  • Configure the required binding, for example hostname, port and HTTPS

Application Under an Existing Website​

If Exopen Web Reports is located under C:\inetpub\wwwroot, the directory can instead be added as an application under Default Web Site.

  • Locate the directory in IIS
  • Right-click the directory
  • Select Convert to Application
  • Select the Application Pool created in the previous step

How website bindings, DNS and certificates are configured depends on the server environment and is normally handled by the system administrator.

5. Configure the System Database​

Open the web.config file.

Verify that the connection string to the Exopen system database is configured correctly.

Exopen Web Reports must be able to connect to the system database from the server using the configuration specified in web.config.

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Information about the system database and connection string is provided by your internal system administrator.

6. Start Exopen Web Reports​

Start or restart the website and its Application Pool in IIS.

Then open the address configured for Exopen Web Reports in a web browser.

If the installation and database connection are configured correctly, the Exopen Web Reports login page should be displayed.

The administrator account can now be used to log in.

7. Register the License​

Before Exopen Web Reports can be fully used, the installation must be licensed.

The license is registered using a working installation of Exopen Report for Excel.

See Install Exopen Report for information about installing and configuring Exopen Report.

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To register the Exopen Web Reports license, you need access to a working Exopen Report client in Excel.

Installation Complete​

Exopen Web Reports is now installed and connected to the Exopen system database.

Further configuration, such as users, reports, permissions and other system settings, can now be performed according to how the Exopen environment will be used.